united states
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Stand up to ICE, any way you can
Yesterday, agents of ICE used force against the people of Salem, Oregon. The news reports may focus on the spraying of tear gas on protestors, but this is only one episode in a campaign of terror. Our neighbors have been forced to hide and flee to escape kidnapping and the forcible separation of their families.… Continue reading
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Red meat for dipshits who are afraid of cities
Maybe you’ve read about Donald Trump’s recent riffs about how losing Los Angeles or San Diego in a nuclear attack by Iran would be an acceptable loss. Maybe, if you’re the kind of person who gets their news by watching videos, you’ve even heard it from his stupid, stupid lips. How could he even joke… Continue reading
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How best to honor September Eleventh
Especially if you are a white American— Speak out against the bigotry that has falsely defined itself as patriotic. Commit yourself to a pluralism so thorough that it does not hesitate to embrace Muslims as an integral part of “we the people.” Do whatever it is you do best on behalf of immigrants and refugees.… Continue reading
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Every Election Matters
I want to state this very plainly, because I don’t think we in the United States have any more room to mess around—we cannot afford to ignore the stakes of the upcoming midterm elections. It is a cliché to describe every election yet to come as the most important one in our lifetimes. It is… Continue reading
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A New Birth of Freedom
It has been a long while since I gently laid aside my hope that, once certain malignancies growing upon the body politic had expired, the United States would be able to resume its long march toward freedom as if nothing had happened. Too many things have been broken that must be repaired; too many people… Continue reading
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A Little Lesson in the Legislative Process
On certain occasions, the impulse to talk at the world like a social studies teacher becomes overwhelming. Some point of history or civics momentarily becomes interesting to the fraction of people who pay attention to current events, and then somebody has to write a blog post or record a video about the relevant lesson from… Continue reading
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Every Conspiracy Theory Is Still Bad And You Should Think With Your Goddamned Brain
It perpetually amazes me, that we have built a nearly universal social apparatus specifically to explain to children how the world works, and yet so many people don’t really understand anything that their paychecks do not absolutely depend upon their grasping. I could possibly live with this state of affairs if these people did not… Continue reading
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A little hope in small places
I had the fine experience last week of joining some of the 11th grade students I tutor on a little field trip around the school’s campus. I could have done with weather a little warmer, but it was still a great day to stretch the legs and take in some spring air with our education.… Continue reading
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Too much to endure
The latest news that I have seen on Trump’s war in Iran is that a two-week ceasefire has been negotiated. What this could mean in the long term, I don’t know. In the short term, I am grateful that some of this insanity shall ebb, though having seen what a “ceasefire” looks like in Gaza,… Continue reading
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Against the War
Let’s just get this out of the way—this post is not what you might call “persuasive.” I am not attempting to persuade anybody that our new war with Iran is gravely immoral. It simply is, and if you don’t know that already, you can deal with that knowledge however you like. What else is there… Continue reading
